As a wise woman once said, “Oh! What a world! What a world!” (Points for naming the source of the quote and the speaker.) If I’d known the country was such a great resource for sf/fantasy writers, I would have paid more attention when I had — I mean when I was privileged to — spend time there as a child.
In the back, Charlie planted castor beans around the perimeter of the garden because a friend said it would discourage moles. It doesn’t seem to have discouraged the mice who have taken over the now-disused mole tunnels in order to nom our potatoes. I can hear them giggling all the way up here.
In the front, this massive fungal growth has staked a claim at the foot of a tree. It’s the size of a dinner plate! (The fungus, not the tree.) The black specks are not pepper, they’re insects.
WRITING PROMPT: Go outside and take pictures of weird things in nature. If you take pictures of people, don’t tell them that. Word to the wise.
MA
Cera Daniels
August 6, 2011 at 12:19pmI love weird plants. And a camera perspective can offer so many different sparks of genius for fantasy and otherworldly world-building. Last year, I had a sweet potato sit too long waiting to be nommed, and it grew roots UPWARD, a mini habitat. Bizarre trees! They made it into the world for the series I’m working on right now.
Marian Allen
August 6, 2011 at 12:42pmOoo, sounds wonderful! There are so many bizarre plants in The Real World, it makes imagining weird ones almost superfluous. 🙂